“Well done, Mills,” a tall and bulky man in a full suit congratuted Chloe.

  “Thank you, Sir,” Chloe responded with her back straight and her hands crossed behind her waist.

  “Your performance this time will surely be greatly noted and noticed by the higher-ups. Keep it up, and they might just open up a seat for you in the council.”

  “Thank you, Sir. It’s an honour to be of service. But as for the possibility of joining the council, I’m afraid I will have to decline.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I hate being behind a desk, and I don’t think I’m suited for bureaucracy. I can’t handle paperwork. You know I don’t have any patience for that kind of thing. Besides, I can do more good in the field.”

  The man smiled wryly. “Give it time, Mills. I’m not telling you to park yourself behind a desk now. Maybe in five years’ time, you’ll change your mind. I did. I preferred the field when I was young and strong, but now, give me a papercut any day over a wound sustained in the field.”

  “I’ll take your words under advisement, Sir.”

  The man saluted Chloe, and she saluted back. With that, Chloe strode out of the room. Out in the corridor, a woman was waiting for her. The woman beamed and scuttled up to Chloe.

  “Jane? You’re still here?” Chloe questioned with a confused expression.

  “Of course, I am. Well, what did he say?” Jane asked excitedly. “Are you getting promoted?”

  “I’m getting a medal and a bonus.”

  Jane’s smile dropped. “Really? Only a medal and a bonus? No promotion?”

  “He did hint at the possibility of a seat at the council in the few years to come.”

  “Wow! Really? That’s great!”

  “Is it, though?”

  “What’s so bad about a seat at the council? Haven’t you heard?”

  “About what?”

  “The council members practically spent their days zing about in their offices, and they get a fat paycheque at the end of every month. At most, they needed only to discuss a few things and sign some documents. How is that not great?”

  “Sounds droll and boring. I’ll pass.”

  “Any chance that you can recommend me in your stead?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Wait, really?”

  “Of course not, you idiot. As if that would work.”

  “There’s no harm in trying, right?”

  Chloe rolled her eyes and began walking down the corridor.

  Jane followed closely beside her.

  “How are the others?” Chloe asked.

  “Alex and Barry are fine. Franklin’s… well, his situation is complicated. He lost a lot of blood, but his wounds were all… healed, for the ck of a better word. Are you sure you didn’t use your powers?”

  Something stirred in her heart, but Chloe didn’t show it on her face. “You know I don’t have that kind of power. If I had, I would have a penthouse as my quarters.”

  “Still, even if you didn’t heal his wounds, you did save us.”

  “...Did I, though?” Chloe muttered under her breath. Her heart felt cold, cold enough to feel burned by it.

  “Hey, listen. I’m sure you heard the… rumours and gossip by now. Pay no attention to them, okay?”

  “Easier said than done. Just this morning, I already have calls from the victims’ friends and families. They sure are creative with the insults.”

  “They weren’t there. We were. You did your best.”

  Chloe frowned, but she didn’t show it to Jane.

  “The PIC has the best technology money could buy, and even then, no one was able to predict the situation in the cave. This whole supernatural thing is still new. You are not to bme. Even Grey didn’t, or else you wouldn’t have your bonus and medal. You earned it. No one could have done it better.”

  “You really think no one could have done it better?”

  “Um… who else could have? Besides you, there was Mason, but he literally jumped into the fire himself. He paid dearly for his arrogance, even though all he could do was throw fire from his hands. A gun would have fared better in his hands.”

  Chloe groaned inwardly. It was getting harder and harder to stomach all these praises and gratitude from the people she allegedly saved.

  “Hey, you’re a hero, Chloe. You saved my life, and Alex’s, and Barry’s, and Franklin’s. Those people can talk all they want, but the fact remains that we wouldn’t be here if it were anyone other than you who went into the cave with us. So, thank you, Chloe. Truly.”

  “Is there no one else that you— I mean, am I truly the only one who saved you?”

  “...Of course? There’s no other superhuman in the team, other than you and Mason.”

  “I see…” Chloe took a deep breath before gncing over to Jane. “Thank you, Jane.”

  Jane tittered. “No problem. Just don’t be too hard on yourself.”

  “I know. I’m just… trying not to think too much about all the what ifs.”

  “Just think about how you're going to spend that bonus. Catch you ter, I got a call.” With those words, Jane skipped down the corridor and disappeared into the corner.

  “Am I going crazy?” Chloe asked herself.

  None of the survivors seemed to remember Henry and Ani, except Chloe. They forgot about the two the moment they left the cave. Their memories were altered at that precise moment. Chloe saved them on her own accord. She singlehandedly rescued them and escorted them out of the cave. That was their memory of their time within the cave. They had no recollection of Henry and Ani, or whatsoever.

  At first, Chloe presumed they were all just being intentionally oblivious about the two’s existence, so as not to get them into trouble. However, she gradually realised they were not merely keeping their lips sealed. They were actually oblivious of the two’s existence. Chloe didn’t know what had happened, but she had a good guess. The two were not of this world, she knew that much. It was likely that some unknown force had taken the liberty to make sure the knowledge of other universes would never be known. But the main question here was: why were her memories altered? That, she didn’t have the slightest notion.

  ****

  “Wake up, Henry.”

  A melodious voice called out to him, gently pulling him out of his dreams. His eyes gradually flickered open. What greeted his drowsy sight was the sweet, smiling face of Ani. “Ani… good morning,” he greeted as he broke into a smile..

  Ani tittered. “Good morning, Henry.” She shrugged. “Well, I suppose it’s good afternoon now.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow. “It’s past noon already?”

  Ani nodded. “It was really strange, you know? You’re not one to sleep in, and even if you did, you have never slept past noon.”

  “It had been an eventful yesterday,” Henry said as he pushed himself up into a seating position. Ani had been on top of him, but he still rose without any trouble. Ani simply slid off of him.

  “So you say,” said a disgruntled voice.

  Henry gnced towards the voice. “Rayne, good m— good afternoon to you too.”

  Rayne, crossing her arms, snorted with an eye roll.

  Henry frowned lightly. “What’s with her?” he asked Ani.

  “Well, we did go off on an adventure without her. She’s sulking, I believe.”

  “No such thing!” Rayne denied with a gre. “You believed wrongly. I was not sulking.”

  “Then, what do you call… whatever this is?”

  “Not everything needs a name.”

  “Alright. If you say so.” Henry shrugged and climbed off the bed.

  Rayne clicked her tongue.

  “What is it now?” Henry asked.

  “Have you no shame?”

  “What? Shame?” Henry felt a chill down there, and he looked down. “Oh.” He was naked. Of course he was. He went hard on Ani for the entire night. If this room had been enchanted with a soundproofing spell, the noises would awaken the entire Lavan vilge.

  “Maybe this is also why she’s sulking?” Ani wondered.

  “I am not sulking.”

  With a snap of his fingers, Henry conjured clothes onto his person. “So, why are you here? Aside from looking annoyed at me.”

  “Iluna wishes to speak with you.”

  “Oh? Did she tell you what for?”

  “Nope, nor did I bother to ask.”

  Henry smiled wryly. “That's so just like you.”

  Rayne looked even more annoyed and she turned to leave. However, her hand was grabbed when she was about to leave, and she was pulled.

  “I’m sorry,” Henry said as he pulled Rayne into a tight embrace.

  “Let me go, you—”

  “You’re really a handful, but that’s kinda endearing. I know you’re also very needy.”

  “Let me go.”

  “I will, but after I have had my fill of you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I miss you, too, Rayne.”

  “We just met st evening. You miss me in such a short timeframe?”

  “Don’t you miss me?”

  “I—” Whatever retort she had prepared, it melted away as she gave into his embrace. She returned the affectionate gesture, wrapping her arms around him. “Fine, I miss you, too.” Their embrace sted for only a few seconds, but these few seconds of warmth and intimacy meant a lot to Rayne, who grew up being shunned by her own people for being different.

  “Well, I’ll get going now,” Henry said.

  “My brothers are here too.”

  Henry was about to leave the room when he heard the surprising news. He stopped and turned around. “Since when?”

  “This morning. It’s just the two of them with four guards.”

  “Why are they here for?”

  Rayne shrugged. “No clue, and I didn’t ask.”

  “Why didn’t you ask?”

  “Not interested, and I’m in no mood to speak with them.”

  “...You haven’t forgiven them, have you?”

  “Should I? They practically sold me off to you to save their own skin.”

  “Not just their own skin, but the skin of their people. The perseverance of your race, that’s what they saved.”

  Rayne snorted once more. “Say you what you want. My mind won’t change, and I certainly won’t be interacting with them for the foreseeable future.”

  Smiling wryly, Henry finally left the room and hurried towards the council room. He passed by many of the Lavans along the way and they all greeted him respectfully. Some even greeted him too fervently, going as far as to kneel, but he stopped them from doing so.

  There were two guards standing at the entrance of the council room, but they stepped out of the way and opened the door when they saw Henry approaching. Despite the hint of urgency reyed by Rayne, there were only Iluna, Iora and the two Zevas in the room. The rest of the council was not present.

  “Lord Henry, you’re here!” Iluna beamed the moment she saw Henry. She even ran up to him all excitedly. “Have you slept well?”

  “I have. I see that the Zevas are here.”

  “Yes. There has been an interesting development.”

  “What kind?”

  “It’s best that I let the two expin,” Iluna said and led Henry to the two Zevas.

  “Lord Henry,” the brothers of Rayne immediately greeted Henry with a deep bow.

  “Lord Henry,” Iora also offered a brief greeting, but she didn’t go so far as to bow deeply.

  Henry gave them a wave. “Iluna told me that something happened?”

  “Yes,” nodded Soren, the older of the two. “First, we must apologise for our sudden intrusion and for our silence in request. We have been experiencing our own troubles.”

  “What sort of troubles?”

  The two didn’t answer immediately. They exchanged gnces and nods before answering. “What I’m about to say cannot leave this room.”

  “You can trust us,” Iluna said with a solemn expression.

  “The barbarian tribes north of our territory have been acting strangely,” said Soren.

  This was the first Henry had heard about this, the presence of barbarians in the north.

  “It’s beyond strange,” Damien added. “The barbarians have never tread this far south, but just two days ago, our scouts saw remnants of them lurking at the border of our territory. The st time our tribe had any contact with the barbarians was more than thirty years ago. We have never seen even a hint of their shadow during these thirty long years.”

  “Do you have any guess as to why they are lurking this close now?” asked Iluna.

  “...We do not know for certain, but…”

  “But?”

  “...Our scouts cimed to have witnessed some of the barbarians wielding weapons that appeared to be steel-forged.”

  “The Grandis Kingdom,” Iluna uttered, as if on reflex.

  “Yes,” Soren agreed. “That’s also our guess.”

  “What is the Grandis Kingdom?” Henry asked.